DramaDeskWinnersRevealed

The big winners at the 2011 Drama Desk Awards were The Book of Mormon and Anything Goes on the musical side, and War Horse and The Normal Heart for plays.

The Drama Desk Awards handed out their prizes Monday, May 23, and the big winners were The Book of Mormon for Outstanding Musical, War Horse for Outstanding Play, Anything Goes won for Outstanding Musical Revival and The Normal Heart won for Outstanding Play Revival. On the design side, David Landerwon for his lighting and Acme Sound Partners and Cricket S. Myerswon for their sound—both on Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Derek McLane (Anything Goes) won for Outstanding Set Design and Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner (Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical) won the Outstanding Costume Design award. Full list of winners after the jump.

THE BOOK OF MORMON AND ANYTHING GOES EACH WIN 5 AWARDS, INCLUDING OUTSTANDING MUSICAL AND MUSICAL REVIVAL, AT 56TH ANNUAL DRAMA DESK AWARDS HELD TONIGHT

WAR HORSE AND THE NORMAL HEART CHOSEN AS OUTSTANDING PLAY AND OUTSTANDING PLAY REVIVAL

New York, May 23, 2011 – The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards for excellence in New York theatre were presented tonight at a gala awards ceremony at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center, hosted by Harvey Fierstein and the results reflected the diversity and excellence of this past year’s New York theatre scene.

The Book of Mormon and Anything Goes each won five Drama Desk Awards to lead the parade of winners, followed by The Normal Heart and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo which won two awards each. Cast members of The Normal Heart also took home special non- competitive Outstanding Ensemble Awards which were bestowed earlier by the Drama Desk nominating committee. No other production won more than one award.

War Horse by Nick Stafford and The Book of Mormon with music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone were voted Outstanding Play and Outstanding Musical, respectively and The Normal Heart and Anything Goes won as Outstanding Play and Musical Revivals. The team of Parker, Lopez and Stone also won the Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics for their collaboration on The Book of Mormon.

Bobby Cannavale (The Motherf**ker With the Hat) and Frances McDormand (Good People) were chosen as Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Play and Norbert Leo Butz (Catch Me If You Can) and Sutton Foster (Anything Goes) won as Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress in a Musical. The Outstanding Featured Actor and Featured Actress in a Play awards went to Brian Bedford (The Importance of Being Earnest) and Edie Falco (The House of Blue Leaves) and the Outstanding Featured Actor and Actress in a Musical awards were won by John Larroquette (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) and Laura Benanti (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown).

The Outstanding Direction winners were Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe (The Normal Heart) and Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker (The Book of Mormon); and the Outstanding Choreography award was given to Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes). Adam Mathias (See Rock City & Other Business) won for Outstanding Book of a Musical. Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus (The Book of Mormon) won for Outstanding Orchestrations and Wayne Barker (Peter and the Starcatcher) won for Outstanding Music in a Play.

The Drama Desk for Outstanding Revue was given to Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway. John Leguizamo won the Drama Desk for his Outstanding Solo Performance (Ghetto Klown). The Unique Theatrical Experience award was presented to Sleep No More.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo won two Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Lighting Design (David Lander) and Outstanding Sound Design (Acme Sound Partners and Cricket S. Myers). Derek McLane (Anything Goes) won for Outstanding Set Design and Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner (Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical) won the Outstanding Costume Design award.

Each year the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theatre. The following awards were voted by the nominating committee and were presented by the Drama Desk at tonight’s awards ceremony: Outstanding Ensemble Performances

This year the nominators chose to bestow special ensemble awards for acting to the casts of two shows. Therefore, individual cast members for these shows were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories.

• In Transit

• The Normal Heart Special Awards

Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theatre. For 2010-2011, these awards are:

• To A.R. Gurney for his enduring, keenly observed portraits of American life over a prolific four-decade-long career.

• To Reed Birney for his versatile and finely nuanced performances over the past thirty-five years and for his exceptional work this season in Tigers Be Still, A Small Fire and The Dream of the Burning Boy.

• To The New Group and Artistic Director Scott Elliott for presenting contemporary new voices and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions.

• To The Pearl Theatre Company for notable productions of classic plays and nurturing a stalwart resident company of actors.

2010/2011 DRAMA DESK AWARD WINNERS Outstanding Play: War Horse by Nick Stafford Outstanding Musical: The Book of Mormon Outstanding Revival of a Play: The Normal Heart Outstanding Revival of a Musical: Anything Goes Outstanding Actor in a Play Bobby Cannavale (The Motherf**ker With the Hat) Outstanding Actress in a Play: Frances McDormand (Good People) Outstanding Actor in a Musical: Norbert Leo Butz (Catch Me If You Can) Outstanding Actress in a Musical: Sutton Foster (Anything Goes) Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play: Brian Bedford (The Importance of Being Earnest) Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play: Edie Falco (The House of Blue Leaves) Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical: John Larroquette (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical: Laura Benanti (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) Outstanding Director of a Play: Joel Grey and George C. Wolfe (The Normal Heart) Outstanding Director of a Musical: Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker (The Book of Mormon) Outstanding Choreography: Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes) Outstanding Music: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez & Matt Stone (The Book of Mormon) Outstanding Lyrics: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez & Matt Stone (The Book of Mormon) Outstanding Book of a Musical Adam Mathias (See Rock City & Other Destinations) Outstanding Orchestrations: Larry Hochman & Stephen Oremus (The Book of Mormon) Outstanding Musical Revue: Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway Outstanding Music in a Play: Wayne Barker (Peter and the Starcatcher) Outstanding Set Design: Derek McLane (Anything Goes) Outstanding Costume Design: Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardiner (Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical) Outstanding Lighting Design: David Lander (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical: Brian Ronan (Anything Goes) Outstanding Sound Design in a Play: Acme Sound Partners and Cricket S. Myers (Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo) Outstanding Solo Performance: John Leguizamo (Ghetto Klown) Unique Theatrical Experience: Sleep No More

Non-Competitive Awards This year the nominators chose to bestow special ensemble awards for acting to the casts of two shows. Therefore, individual cast members for these shows were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories. • In Transit• The Normal Heart Special Awards

For 2010-2011, these awards are: • To A.R. Gurney for his enduring, keenly observed portraits of American life over a prolific four-decade-long career. • To Reed Birney for his versatile and finely nuanced performances over the past thirty-five years and for his exceptional work this season in Tigers Be Still, A Small Fire and The Dream of the Burning Boy. • To The New Group and Artistic Director Scott Elliott for presenting contemporary new voices and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions. • To The Pearl Theatre Company for notable productions of classic plays and nurturing a stalwart resident company of actors. • To the creative team of War Horse for thrilling stagecraft: Paule Constable, Marianne Elliott, 59 Productions, Adrian Kohler with Basil Jones for Handspring Puppet Company, Tom Morris, Rae Smith, Christopher Shutt, Toby Sedgwick, Adrian Sutton and John Tams.

The Drama Desk (www.dramadesk.org) was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theatre and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theatre in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955 and it is the only critics organization to honor achievement in the theatre with competition between Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions in the same categories.

The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards was shot in HD and will premiere on Ovation, the only network dedicated to arts culture, Saturday, June 4 at 9:00 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT. The 90- minute highlight special will also be given encore presentations on Sunday, June 12 at 12:30 PM ET/9:30 AM PT and 2:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT. The highlight special will be produced by Heflin Filmworks, with Lance Heflin serving as supervising producer and Mark Stroman as executive producer. Terry Rohnke (Saturday Night Live) is creative consultant.

Ovation.com streamed a special red-carpet show starting at 6:00 to 8:00 PM ET, hosted by renowned stylist/designer Phillip Bloch and Broadway Channel’s Maribel Aber, which featured arrivals and interviews with the Drama Desk nominees, presenters and celebrity guests.

The awards ceremony was presented immediately following a sit-down dinner in the elegant Hammerstein Ballroom attended by nominees, presenters, VIPs and sponsors. Guests later joined the show business luminaries in the Grand Ballroom of Manhattan Center for a joyous post-ceremony reception.

The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards was presented by Executive Producer Robert R. Blume and Step Forward in association with Renee McCurry, TheaterMania.com and David S. Stone. The awards ceremony was directed by Jeff Kalpak; the Line Producer was Rich Bittner; and the Consulting Producer was Lauren Class Schneider.

Jeremy C. Doucette designed the sets, Al Crawford did the lighting and Carl Casella and Christopher Cronin designed the sound. The Associate Director was Richard J. Hinds and the Production Manager was Peter H. Smith. Ozzie Melendez is the Music Director. Christopher Raphael is the Gala Producer. The Associate Producers are Renee McCurry, Joseph Callari and Les Schecter. For the Drama Desk, Isa Goldberg is President and Randie Levine-Miller is Director of Special Events Stuart F. Margulies (SFM Management Ltd.) is the Drama Desk Awards accountant.

For TheaterMania.com: Gretchen Shugart is Chief Executive Office. Darren Sussman is President and Co-Founder. Brian Scott Lipton is the Editor in Chief. John Burns is Client Services Manager. Kara Weintraub is Marketing Director. Jeffrey Rega is Customer Service Manager.

For The Broadway Channel: Matt Hege is Vice President. Maribel Aber is on-camera host and Paul Dokuchitz is New York Director.